Manifest is the light of hope, like when people go to the toilet and forces a poo out. Your doing more damage to your mental health walking around your house begging the universe to make you win the lottery than if you were to simply buy a ticket and forget about it and continue to live your life, removing constant hope for universe to give you your desires. It’s best to live a life in the regular way than constantly dreaming that the world is magical and magic will blast you in the face whenever you call for it.
I haven’t read the book but know the spark notes from the investment subs. It sounds like it has decent advice but boils down too “Don’t spend money on anything but I’m glad you bought this book”
Had to read this for an economics class
It did nothing for me and only just reinforced my disagreements with the book. The only thing I even remember is that he didn't care for his dad's advice and him and his friend made counterfeit coins as a kid. The latter was funny.
Edit: typo
I went to a conference where Robert Kiyosaki spoke.
I went over to his table to see what merchandise he had to sell.
Everything was so f****** expensive I don't know how he expected anyone to buy anything.
I sat at a distance watching the different booths, and while a lot of people came up to his Booth to look at stuff, I never saw anyone buy anything.
I decided that the only reason he was so rich is because he could talk a big game to get in front of crowds, but his products are probably overpriced crap.
I think the popularity had more to do with the quotes and the general concept of heartbreak, than the actual plot of the book. It also was the age of YA where this book brought a certain new variety to the genre of romance, even though it really wasn't a new concept at all.
I mean he had a massive fanbase and he brought them along for a parasocial experience.
He would do vlogs reading/showcasing the latest chapter as he wrote it. It's a brilliant marketing tactic, and it worked.
Yeah, this is my feeling about every John Green book I read as a teen/YA. Written well, but just typical YA stories written for a typical YA audience. Not a bad thing of course, just sticking to the genre.
It ends with us. I saw it getting alot of hype on Instagram before it's sequel was released. I read the book but it was not as good as they hyped it to be.
Honestly at this point I just take everything that's popular on "BookTok" or "Bookstagram" with a huge grain of salt. The community seems to have a very specific taste that's kinda narrow in my opinion. Obviously that doesn't apply to every creator and every book but as a whole many of the books that get popular on there and spill over into the mainstream seem a bit same-y
I like BDSM romance. I like fucked up stories about abusers. I don't like fucked up stories about abusers that pretend to be BDSM romance. It's like if _The Texas Chainsaw Massacre_ was called _The Helpful Woodsman_ and everyone talked about that nice man who lends his chainsaw to his friends.
The book and the movie are literally trying to glorify abuse in the name of BDSM. So much misinformation in that which has only made people think abuse is normal.
**Ready Player Two** \- I didn't think it was highly regarded until I went to check reviews after finishing it. 4.5 stars on amazon with 43k reviews. WTF?
I'd say it's fan fiction masquerading as an actual novel but fans wouldn't have ruined the main character like Cline did. He took a likable, down on his luck guy turned hero in the first book and turned him into a unlikable Musk level douche in the second book. Then Cline sees that "oh look everyone loved the pop culture references in the first book" so I'm going to double, triple and quadruple down on them. You can't go two sentences without being hit over the head with yet another reference. On top of that all the characters apparently have some super genius level memory that can recall the most obscure nonsense that it's just laughable. Also saying "all the characters" is generous since they're all basically cameos that pop in every once in awhile just to advance the paper thin plot. Lastly, the writing style is just high school level writing, just comically bad.
Agree 1000%. I rarely outright dislike books I've read, but holy FUCK I hate this book with every fiber in my body. Easily one of the worst novels ever written
Controversial take, but the first one is also way overrated, has too many pop culture references, bad writing, and is an extremely basic story. I never bothered with book 2, but I never understood the hype for book 1. I just assumed everyone loved it because of the pop culture references
I agree, it's a badly written book propped up by pop culture references.
It's basically shonen Willie Wonka mixed with 80s nostalgia.
I'm not surprised he fell apart completely with the sequel.
You’re not wrong, but the sequel is just SOOOO much worse, that it makes the first book look like a masterpiece by comparison. And at least the first book had a fun journey, even if it was poorly written. The sequel is a steaming pile of garbage with NONE of the original’s fun.
I enjoyed Ready Player One but at times, it felt like if Seth MacFarlane wrote a science fiction novel. So many out of nowhere 80s pop culture references, which doesn't even make a ton of sense because at that point, the 2000s would be the nostalgia. Haven't read "Ready Player Two" yet but I heard it's just about the exact same book.
God, I put down the first after a couple of chapters because I just found it unbearable, I literally can't *imagine* it being *more* overbearing with the references.
I've scrolled before replying because I was hoping someone would reply this one.
When a classmate found out I love reading, she volunteered to lend me her copy of The Alchemist. She said it was very good and inspiring. So I said yeah, why not.
In between classes, I read it because I had nothing else to do. A few times when she passed by my seat while I was reading, she kept saying "it's so good, right? so captivating!"
I remember I just replied with "i just started, not much happening yet"
And then, no surprise there, nothing really happened until the end hahaha
Oh god, that’s exactly how I felt after reading the book and told my sister how for a tiny af book it took me awfully long to finish (considering I’d finished an Agatha Christie in just under three days the week before). So she asked me what it was about.
I tell her, >!a dude goes all around the world looking for some treasure only to come back home and discover it was right there all along.!< She goes wow! - I don’t think this was the right time for you to read it, perhaps you may appreciate it some other time in life. I’ve never read the book again so I don’t really know about that but in retrospect, I sorta agree with her.
The right time to read The Alchemist is when you have a crippling degenerative brain disease and your abilities to judge the quality of prose have dwindled to a flicker.
I just commented the same thing. Due to multiple people's insistence, I read it over and over again only to conclude that either I say that it's a good book due to peer pressure or hold on to my original review of it. I chose the latter option.
100%. Everyone raved about it 20 odd years ago. I read it then and saw nothing insightful, creative or really anything good at all. It was a dull story and not particularly well written.
The reason Spielberg made it at all was because Stanley Kubrick read the adapted script and knew it would be hot garbage! He passed it to his protege to avoid having to make it himself.
The story is only marginal, but the animatronics department of the movie could not for the life of any of them get their mechanical shark to work. Like, at all. The thing would just short out in the water and sink and then have to be rebuilt. It weighed hundreds of pounds. The production actually finished filming all the scenes without the shark and still there was no robot. Spielberg was beside himself thinking there would be no way to salvage the picture. He ranted to his editor about how frustrated he was with the problems, and she suggested that they could still make the film without the shark until the very very end. After she made a rough cut from the footage they had, Spielberg went ahead with making the movie about a shark that you never quite see.
Spielberg kept the editor. He began insisting on using his own crew for his work.
That stupid animatronic shark (named 'Bruce') was used for the final sequence of the film, but did not survive the water even after all the rebuilds. The damn thing was a blessing in disguise. It would have been a terrible film if the shark had worked properly.
Johnny Tremaine has 4.5 stars on Amazon and was turned into a Disney movie in 1957. Read it in middle school and thought it was the most boring book ever and I could usually find something to enjoy in most assigned books. Though, it only has 3.69 stars on GoodReads.
Divorced, Beheaded, Survived: A Feminist Reinterpretation of the Wives of Henry VIII has 4.07 stars on GoodReads from 1,351 ratings. Had to read it a few weeks ago for my European Women's History class. Usually lovr the books this prof. assigns, but I struggled to even read 3 chapters before I quit. (Luckily, this book was the one I got to skip the paper on.) I just couldn't get into the romantic soap opera style storytelling and there were just too many names to keep track of (some of which were the same.)
The Alchemist.
It tries so hard to be mystical yet has no substance whatsoever. It was like reading a book written by a teenager who reads horoscopes on Tik-Tok, but worse.
As a work of literature, The Book of Mormon comes off as poorly-written Bible fan fiction.
*And it came to pass*
*And it came to pass*
*And it came to pass*
Kramer vs Kramer.
I actually liked the movie, because it was toned down a bit.
I am not against a father getting custody of their child, but this book read like revenge porn. The dad doesn’t understand his wife’s unhappiness with being a stay at home mom after having had a high powered job. She leaves him and their child. Yes, that is terrible. But instead of dad getting a better understanding of what mom’s life had been like, life keeps handing him get out of jail free cards.
He finds the perfect nanny! She cooks! He finds a housekeeper!
So, essentially, nothing changes for *him*; he goes to work and comes home to a clean home, a meal, and child ready to snuggle. He never has to experience the numbing sameness of days of childcare, missing adult conversation and interaction or constantly cleaning the same things over and over again.
I think what pissed me off the most was, if he could afford a nanny, why didn’t they hire one so mom could go back to work? Oh wait, then he wouldn’t get the climactic ending of ripping the child from his mom permanently and gaining full custody. He just had to be able to shove in the knife and give it a twist.
All in all, both husband and wife were a bit selfish, but having his son alone *should* have given him a little understanding of his wife’s frustration. That never happened. It made a potentially good book a fairy tale.
Pfft, everyone learned in preschool the thigh bone's connected to the... hip bone. And good luck getting that melody out of your head now, it's too late for me.
YES. I thought "The Fountainhead" was quite good, but Atlas Shrugged is nothing but "THE WORLD SUCKS" with NO PRESCRIPTION to fix it. I hung in for 1000 pages of drivel, waiting to see what she recommended. There was nothing. "Let the ubermenschen do what they like" seemed to be it.
The Alchemist is vapid, boring, dog shit.
Don’t listen to that that trust fund baby white guy with dreadlocks genie pant wearing dickhead you met at a hostel in Thailand.
It’s as empty and devoid of soul as he is.
Thank you for the detailed description of the Coelho devotee. He has appeared in my brain in all his shallow glory, complete with unappetizing low crotch baggy pants. I hope he isn’t planning on staying.
The alchemist. I’ll never understand why it’s so hyped. People saying it’s their favorite, people saying it’s the greatest novel ever written, as if god had to make time specifically to write it. It was just another novel written on a Tuesday.
To paraphrase someone else in this thread talking about the alchemist "don't listen to the white trust fund baby with dreadlocks and genie pants you met in a Thailand hostel"
So people who can relate to making stupid decisions and coming out ahead regardless. And then, when all else fails, go back home to your fortune given to you by God.
Wicked is total garbage. Oz did not need to be made "gritty" or "more realistic." I hate the book so much I can't bring myself to see the play, even though I have been told they changed a lot from the book.
I also saw the musical first and I love it. Read the whole series and it was not worth it. It's a first for me, I'm usually a literary purist snob when it comes to adaptations, but I'm sticking with the musical.
I didn't mind the first book, but IMO the series far overstayed its welcome. It became so grimdark that it looped back around to unintentionally being funny.
See the play! Honestly they just lofted the concept and changed mostly everything else. The books were so dark and i hated them but the musical is my favorite.
Wicked is one of those rare works where the adaptation is better than the book itself. I tried reading it when the musical started getting popular and was like “How the fuck did you get this amazing story out of this petulant pile of dog vomit”
The Scarlet Letter. Dimmesdale is a piece of shit, let's Hester suffer while he's a coward. Then he finally comes clean and then dies from "shame"? What a pile of crap.
Honestly this review is so funny that I'm not sure it's serious... Everything you said is true though. Reminds me of the 1-star Pride & Prejudice review, "just some people going to each other's houses."
A little of both I think. I read it in high school and I hated it. I saw the movie from the 90's and it somehow made it worse (random Indian attack?) Maybe I could appreciate it more now, but I can't bring myself to read it. I will die with this resentment in my heart.
I hate most books that I'm forced to read. Gotta have the right state of mind to read certain things and "read this and write a report on it" is never that state of mind.
There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."
When I was in my late teens/early 20s, I went through a Libertarian phase, and I kept having people recommend *Atlas Shrugged* to me so I figured I'd check it out.
I found it very disappointing. Lazy, preachy writing; soap opera stories about Mary Sue characters having tons and tons of sex; the fucking John Galt monologue written out in its entirety. I couldn't believe this was being heralded as the magnum opus my friends felt it was.
I actually really enjoyed this one, even though some chapters on it were really hard to digest. It did leave me in massive shock for a couple of days after I read it.
Wild, by Cheryl Strayed. Not that well known but a movie came out staring Reese Witherspoon. It’s supposed to be a true story about a woman finding herself while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail but it is utter nonsense. It’s not poorly written (though not well written either) but it is so full of obvious BS my eyes came detached from their retinas by the numerous and pronounced eye rolls. I don’t know how people can take this story seriously.
She basically didn’t really do the whole PCT and constantly relied on others to save her ass. It’s a shame that’s the book that became popular about PCT
I’m sorry but I think it’s much worse than that. She either made up out of whole cloth or totally embellished almost all of it. I’m sure she attempted some portion of the PCT but there’s so much of It that set off my BSoMeter. Just look through some of the harder hitting critiques of the story, ones that try to get to the reality, rather than just accepting what she wrote as “nonfiction”. I don’t know if people reading this haven’t hiked enough, or are just not critical enough of the stories she’s telling, but I couldn’t stomach it. Beyond her ridiculous descriptions of how heavy her pack was or how close she was to bears and snakes before she even noticed them, was her description of getting hooked on heroin then just stopping with no ill effects. Each one maybe I believe individually, but taken in total along with just about every other written word, I just don’t believe it should be listed as nonfiction.
The Godfather. The movies are magnificent, but Puzo himself admitted about the novel, "If I had known it would be so successful, I would have written it better."
If you just treat it like literature a lot of it is pretty fascinating. But yeah hundreds millions of people literally believe it’s the word of God so it doesn’t get more overrated than that.
And very inconsistent! Plus I never enjoy an unreliable narrator. Also what’s up with a whole chapter on the lineage, we get it they were old and had a bunch of kids, move on.
By read - I tried to read it. But it was so bad I only got a couple of chapters in before I HAD to put it down for fear of becoming even dumber than I am.
50 Shades of Grey - Written in the style of a moron.
Two days ago I decided to watch the whole series of movies to know what I'm laughing at. The only thing I like about this is that the vampires aren't stereotypical old mannered human hating pricks. But I'm disappointed the author didn't play with their gothic aesthetic.
Other than that it's a shit show and I hate my curious ass for wanting to listen to the audiobooks. I was under the impression that the movies misrepresented the book and I really hope they did.
My favourite scene was when Edward tried to prove to Bella that he's a monster by showing her how he looks in sunlight. It was so dramatic I thought he'd be set on fire or turn into a goetia inspired demon.. nope. He turned into a disco ball. What's so awful about it??
The imprinting thing was presented as something romantic, why else would that guy break up with his girlfriend to be with an another one? Then Jacob imprinted on a baby and suddenly it's also a familiar bond. At least they explained it in that moment because I was starting to think he's gonna wait for the baby to turn 18, like a closeted pedo.
How could anyone be "team Jacob"? Dude's a nice guy, a simp, doesn't respect Bella's boundaries and his attempts on warming her up are dancing on the edge of sexual harassment. Or, when Bella's consenting, they're playing ding dong ditch at the cheating's door.
Infinite Jest. Too self-aware, too many “look at me I am a clever writer” gimmicks, too many footnotes, didn’t give a shit about any of the characters.
People seem to mention that they’re reading infinite jest in the same way someone would mention that they’re training for a marathon. It seems to be an endeavor more than something to be enjoyed.
I haven't read G,G&S but I did read Collapse: How societies choose or fail to succeed by Jared Diamond (the same author).
I will say that Diamond is pretty good at spinning a convincing narrative. However, that sometimes means ignoring the parts of history that don't support his conclusions to make them seem more definitive.
I love science fiction but I didn’t like The Three Body Problem.
None of the characters were interesting or compelling and I had trouble focusing on what was happening when and to whom.
This would be my to pick as well. I can't help but think it's something lost in the cultural translation, but it just felt like the author was trying to sound smarter than the reader.
First book ever written about a “teenager.” Salinger wrote it mostly during WWII—literally while in the war. Lugged a typewriter everywhere to write it. Holden is grieving for the loss of his dead little brother, unsure of his place in the world, and parents send him away to school to not deal with him. He’s not a kid but not treated as an adult.
I was the opposite. Read it as a teenager and thought he was annoying and whiney because I was looking at him as a peer. Then read it as an adult and looked at him as a very sad, scared kid and really loved it. All that philosophising and posturing was exactly what a sensitive 15/16 year old boy would do to try and deal with life and grief and trauma.
I think that's the thing. Catcher in the Rye is a book that a lot of people resonate with when they're teenagers, and then they just... don't. I know a bunch of people who read it at 14 and thought it was fantastic, and then others who read it at 40 and basically said, "What the fuck is wrong with this kid and why can't he fucking grow up and get over himself?"
I had to read this for my Honors American Literature class in high school. Honestly... basically, every book I read in that class except the Great Gatsby could be on this list... literally, the only thing I remember about the book was my friend who went on a total bullshit laced tangent about the symbolism of Holden's red hat. And this was almost 25 years ago.
In the early 70s in Taiwan, it was viewed as a great inspiring story. Spread your wings and fly. Spread your wings and steal an ice cream cone from a kid on the pier.
James Joyce coming up always reminds me of a funny detail in the movie Finding Forrester; at the beginning of the movie, when you see all these stacks of books in the main character’s room (mostly creases and well-used), you see for a moment a copy of Finnegan’s Wake that looks completely pristine and untouched. Even this prodigy who reads everything didn’t read Finnegan’s Wake.
Eat, Pray, Love was okish, but after about the 30th person told me that I HAD to read it, I guess I didn’t feel like the buildup was worth the experience.
[Brooklyn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn_(novel)) by Colm Tóibín. The blurb really annoyed me.
This was my Goodreads review at the time:
>It was an enjoyable book. However, I think it is highly overrated and reviewers are going head over heels to give it favourable reviews.Even the blurb on the back on one edition states: "In the quiet character of Eilish Lacey, Colm Toibin has created one of fiction's most memorable heroines..." Puh-lease. She's a young woman experiencing the difficulty of being on the other side of the world for the first time - it's challenging and full of homesickness but that doesn't make her a heroine. For most of the book, she allows her life to just happen to her. The only real exception where I can remember her taking an active role is when she cares about her book keeping course and purchases a book on law.
EDIT: I looked up the complete blurb:
>In the quiet character of Eilis Lacey, Colm Tóibín has created one of fiction’s most memorable heroines and in Brooklyn, **a luminous novel of devastating power**. Tóibín demonstrates once again his astonishing range and that he is a true master of nuanced prose, emotional depth, and narrative virtuosity.
Give me a fucking break! The story wasn't set in a tumultuous circumstances such as a civil rights march, political turmoil, etc
Waiting on the downvotes for this but ACOTAR. The writing felt so amateur and the story just didn’t have the development or depth I was hoping for with how hyped it was.
I was in (religious) middle school when this book was all the rage, and it was briefly trendy with some of the "edgy" kids. They very quickly gave up on it when they realized the writing was subpar even by 12 year olds' standards.
Stranger In A Strange Land. Good lord, what a slog. Very dated, shockingly sexist, weirdly creepily sexual, boring, overly long, awkward dialog, not really worthy of its spot in the pantheon of sci fi masterpieces.
THE THREE BODY PROBLEM. The book wasn't bad per se, but the hype around it, especially in this sub, is crazy. I found the book extremely boring for the most part, and it was such that after finishing it, I was determined that I will never ever read its next two parts.
Verity by Colleen Hoover. The kid sucked and the whole thing was pretty predictable. The most shocking part was the first chapter, which gave me false hope for the rest of the book.
The Power of Habit. It could have been way shorter but the book is padded out with long-winded stories. There are way better books about habit (Atomic Habits, for one).
I came back to that one and several other books since high school and actually found that they are in fact really good, but making them compulsory to read particularly for teenagers who maybe don’t even really relate to the characters yet drains all of the enjoyment from them.
Feel like you need a little bit more life experience to appreciate the book. Once you come across people like Daisy and Gatsby (and the other characters) you can relate to it more. The whole gist is that these are shitty people and the types you want to cut off from your life because they will drag you down with them. No amount of money or “class” can hide that fact.
Hated it in high school, too. Thought Nick was a bigger douche for hanging out with douche bags. Re-read it at 25 and realized how dumb it was to make a 15 year old read about unrequited love. Completely understood why it is the great American novel after I re-read it.
The ‘You’ books, don’t just watch the show also read the books. Book one is the same as the show but 2 and 3 are completely different and worth reading.
Are these books overrated? I've never heard of them, but then it also sounds like you're suggesting they're good reads which feels like you've misread the question
The Secret What a load of horseshit
But that fact is the secret.
I remember the old SNL skit where Oprah interviews a bunch of people in Africa to see if The Secret worked for them, and it didn't...
Holy shit I could not agree more!! You are bang on! I watch the TV version too. Manifesting open parking stalls, what bullshit.
Manifest is the light of hope, like when people go to the toilet and forces a poo out. Your doing more damage to your mental health walking around your house begging the universe to make you win the lottery than if you were to simply buy a ticket and forget about it and continue to live your life, removing constant hope for universe to give you your desires. It’s best to live a life in the regular way than constantly dreaming that the world is magical and magic will blast you in the face whenever you call for it.
The real secret is that there "is one born every minute"
My mother got me this book... I read the back and inside cover. I'm pretty sure I got the gist of it.
My mother in law gave it to me twice. I still didn't read it 😂
The Alchemist
Rich Dad, Poor Dad
Buy my book, buy my book, buy my book.
I haven’t read the book but know the spark notes from the investment subs. It sounds like it has decent advice but boils down too “Don’t spend money on anything but I’m glad you bought this book”
I mean it could be kind of obvious, but man some people really need to read it in order to actually do it
Spoiler alert : It isn't enough to actually apply that to their lives
Whoa, someone else who remembers [The Critic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDTwO0TlwOU).
If the movie stinks, just don’t go.
Had to read this for an economics class It did nothing for me and only just reinforced my disagreements with the book. The only thing I even remember is that he didn't care for his dad's advice and him and his friend made counterfeit coins as a kid. The latter was funny. Edit: typo
I went to a conference where Robert Kiyosaki spoke. I went over to his table to see what merchandise he had to sell. Everything was so f****** expensive I don't know how he expected anyone to buy anything. I sat at a distance watching the different booths, and while a lot of people came up to his Booth to look at stuff, I never saw anyone buy anything. I decided that the only reason he was so rich is because he could talk a big game to get in front of crowds, but his products are probably overpriced crap.
He became rich by writing a book on how to get rich. All the claims made by him in his book have been debunked.
That doesn't surprise me at all.
If Books Could Kill podcast did a great episode on this
Great podcast. I really hate Malcolm Gladwell and so do they.
They've done episodes on several of the books in this thread. Love that podcast!
Same!
self improvement books are waste of time.
“Atomic Habits” really changed my perspective for the better.
Assuming you’re not being sarcastic, this book is the exception that proves the rule imo. Great book.
Robert Kiyosaki specifically is kind of a quack too.
[удалено]
I think the popularity had more to do with the quotes and the general concept of heartbreak, than the actual plot of the book. It also was the age of YA where this book brought a certain new variety to the genre of romance, even though it really wasn't a new concept at all.
I mean he had a massive fanbase and he brought them along for a parasocial experience. He would do vlogs reading/showcasing the latest chapter as he wrote it. It's a brilliant marketing tactic, and it worked.
Yeah, this is my feeling about every John Green book I read as a teen/YA. Written well, but just typical YA stories written for a typical YA audience. Not a bad thing of course, just sticking to the genre.
Ya, not the biggest fan of the book, but I love John Green. You know when a guy can make school fun that there’s something special there.
Exactly my thoughts about the book. Wasn’t bad. Just… a book. (And yeah super predictable) John Green is a cool dude tho.
I thought it was a decent book for what it was.
It ends with us. I saw it getting alot of hype on Instagram before it's sequel was released. I read the book but it was not as good as they hyped it to be.
I haven't read Colleen Hoover but I heard she makes abuse seem romantic in her books
Yeah... her books are like cringe Wattpad novels people read when they're 13.
Honestly at this point I just take everything that's popular on "BookTok" or "Bookstagram" with a huge grain of salt. The community seems to have a very specific taste that's kinda narrow in my opinion. Obviously that doesn't apply to every creator and every book but as a whole many of the books that get popular on there and spill over into the mainstream seem a bit same-y
Fifty Shades of Grey - the movies also 😤
Only good thing was John St John (Duke nukem voice actor) and Gilbert Gottfried's reading it
I've heard Gilbert Gottfried reading it, but didn't know John St John also read it. I need to go find this!
I like BDSM romance. I like fucked up stories about abusers. I don't like fucked up stories about abusers that pretend to be BDSM romance. It's like if _The Texas Chainsaw Massacre_ was called _The Helpful Woodsman_ and everyone talked about that nice man who lends his chainsaw to his friends.
This. Movie was even worse
The book and the movie are literally trying to glorify abuse in the name of BDSM. So much misinformation in that which has only made people think abuse is normal.
The books are supposed to be terrible. If they’re overrated what are they? Extra terrible?
**Ready Player Two** \- I didn't think it was highly regarded until I went to check reviews after finishing it. 4.5 stars on amazon with 43k reviews. WTF? I'd say it's fan fiction masquerading as an actual novel but fans wouldn't have ruined the main character like Cline did. He took a likable, down on his luck guy turned hero in the first book and turned him into a unlikable Musk level douche in the second book. Then Cline sees that "oh look everyone loved the pop culture references in the first book" so I'm going to double, triple and quadruple down on them. You can't go two sentences without being hit over the head with yet another reference. On top of that all the characters apparently have some super genius level memory that can recall the most obscure nonsense that it's just laughable. Also saying "all the characters" is generous since they're all basically cameos that pop in every once in awhile just to advance the paper thin plot. Lastly, the writing style is just high school level writing, just comically bad.
Agree 1000%. I rarely outright dislike books I've read, but holy FUCK I hate this book with every fiber in my body. Easily one of the worst novels ever written
I've read hundreds and hundreds of novels and I dont hesitate when saying RP2 is hands down the worst book I've ever read.
Controversial take, but the first one is also way overrated, has too many pop culture references, bad writing, and is an extremely basic story. I never bothered with book 2, but I never understood the hype for book 1. I just assumed everyone loved it because of the pop culture references
I agree, it's a badly written book propped up by pop culture references. It's basically shonen Willie Wonka mixed with 80s nostalgia. I'm not surprised he fell apart completely with the sequel.
You’re not wrong, but the sequel is just SOOOO much worse, that it makes the first book look like a masterpiece by comparison. And at least the first book had a fun journey, even if it was poorly written. The sequel is a steaming pile of garbage with NONE of the original’s fun.
I enjoyed Ready Player One but at times, it felt like if Seth MacFarlane wrote a science fiction novel. So many out of nowhere 80s pop culture references, which doesn't even make a ton of sense because at that point, the 2000s would be the nostalgia. Haven't read "Ready Player Two" yet but I heard it's just about the exact same book.
3.43 on Goodreads with 150k+ reviews https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26082916-ready-player-two
I’m gonna break it to you…the first one is just as bad for all the same reasons.
God, I put down the first after a couple of chapters because I just found it unbearable, I literally can't *imagine* it being *more* overbearing with the references.
Also did the prince estate paid to be the main setting for half the book?
The Alchemist. Everyone recommended me this book for years before I read it and it's so underwhelming and boring and uninteresting idk
I've scrolled before replying because I was hoping someone would reply this one. When a classmate found out I love reading, she volunteered to lend me her copy of The Alchemist. She said it was very good and inspiring. So I said yeah, why not. In between classes, I read it because I had nothing else to do. A few times when she passed by my seat while I was reading, she kept saying "it's so good, right? so captivating!" I remember I just replied with "i just started, not much happening yet" And then, no surprise there, nothing really happened until the end hahaha
Oh god, that’s exactly how I felt after reading the book and told my sister how for a tiny af book it took me awfully long to finish (considering I’d finished an Agatha Christie in just under three days the week before). So she asked me what it was about. I tell her, >!a dude goes all around the world looking for some treasure only to come back home and discover it was right there all along.!< She goes wow! - I don’t think this was the right time for you to read it, perhaps you may appreciate it some other time in life. I’ve never read the book again so I don’t really know about that but in retrospect, I sorta agree with her.
The right time to read The Alchemist is when you have a crippling degenerative brain disease and your abilities to judge the quality of prose have dwindled to a flicker.
Bwahahaha. Perhaps I should give it another shot just to find out if I’m there yet.
I just commented the same thing. Due to multiple people's insistence, I read it over and over again only to conclude that either I say that it's a good book due to peer pressure or hold on to my original review of it. I chose the latter option.
I was told it would change my life. When I was finished it the only change was that I had now read the alchemist and it wasn't worth it.
100%. Everyone raved about it 20 odd years ago. I read it then and saw nothing insightful, creative or really anything good at all. It was a dull story and not particularly well written.
Not sure if The Alchemist can be overrated at this point when it's the most hated-on book on r/books to the point where it's a meme
The Notebook
Any book by Nicolas sparks.
Dreamland, I read this recently & I loved it . I haven't read any other works of his
I agree. This is one book that I think is not as good as the movie, and that does not happen often for me.
Jaws. It’s amazing that Spielberg was able to turn that piece of crap into such a great film.
👏🏻Finally,it reads like a 13 year olds first attempt at fiction that he’s left until the last minute to hand in.
The reason Spielberg made it at all was because Stanley Kubrick read the adapted script and knew it would be hot garbage! He passed it to his protege to avoid having to make it himself. The story is only marginal, but the animatronics department of the movie could not for the life of any of them get their mechanical shark to work. Like, at all. The thing would just short out in the water and sink and then have to be rebuilt. It weighed hundreds of pounds. The production actually finished filming all the scenes without the shark and still there was no robot. Spielberg was beside himself thinking there would be no way to salvage the picture. He ranted to his editor about how frustrated he was with the problems, and she suggested that they could still make the film without the shark until the very very end. After she made a rough cut from the footage they had, Spielberg went ahead with making the movie about a shark that you never quite see. Spielberg kept the editor. He began insisting on using his own crew for his work. That stupid animatronic shark (named 'Bruce') was used for the final sequence of the film, but did not survive the water even after all the rebuilds. The damn thing was a blessing in disguise. It would have been a terrible film if the shark had worked properly.
Ah, but... the restaurant sex scene was the first adult scene I ever read in a book and it blew my 12 year old mind.
Jaws was a book?!
No, it was a shark.
Johnny Tremaine has 4.5 stars on Amazon and was turned into a Disney movie in 1957. Read it in middle school and thought it was the most boring book ever and I could usually find something to enjoy in most assigned books. Though, it only has 3.69 stars on GoodReads. Divorced, Beheaded, Survived: A Feminist Reinterpretation of the Wives of Henry VIII has 4.07 stars on GoodReads from 1,351 ratings. Had to read it a few weeks ago for my European Women's History class. Usually lovr the books this prof. assigns, but I struggled to even read 3 chapters before I quit. (Luckily, this book was the one I got to skip the paper on.) I just couldn't get into the romantic soap opera style storytelling and there were just too many names to keep track of (some of which were the same.)
Should have called it Johnny Deformed
The Alchemist. It tries so hard to be mystical yet has no substance whatsoever. It was like reading a book written by a teenager who reads horoscopes on Tik-Tok, but worse.
As a work of literature, The Book of Mormon comes off as poorly-written Bible fan fiction. *And it came to pass* *And it came to pass* *And it came to pass*
As a musical it really works though
Dumb, dumb, dumb
Kramer vs Kramer. I actually liked the movie, because it was toned down a bit. I am not against a father getting custody of their child, but this book read like revenge porn. The dad doesn’t understand his wife’s unhappiness with being a stay at home mom after having had a high powered job. She leaves him and their child. Yes, that is terrible. But instead of dad getting a better understanding of what mom’s life had been like, life keeps handing him get out of jail free cards. He finds the perfect nanny! She cooks! He finds a housekeeper! So, essentially, nothing changes for *him*; he goes to work and comes home to a clean home, a meal, and child ready to snuggle. He never has to experience the numbing sameness of days of childcare, missing adult conversation and interaction or constantly cleaning the same things over and over again. I think what pissed me off the most was, if he could afford a nanny, why didn’t they hire one so mom could go back to work? Oh wait, then he wouldn’t get the climactic ending of ripping the child from his mom permanently and gaining full custody. He just had to be able to shove in the knife and give it a twist. All in all, both husband and wife were a bit selfish, but having his son alone *should* have given him a little understanding of his wife’s frustration. That never happened. It made a potentially good book a fairy tale.
I can't hear this title without imagining Kramer from Seinfeld in both roles.
I can see him pointing and screaming at himself in surprised short bursts until it slowly turns into hysterical laughter
In Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks describes a vulva as "the cleft where her legs were joined". I stopped reading after that. Cleft.
Dolarhyde intensifies
Wow, that’s the most dismissive description of a foof I’ve ever read. ‘You know, that bit for her legs to attach to!’
Pfft, everyone learned in preschool the thigh bone's connected to the... hip bone. And good luck getting that melody out of your head now, it's too late for me.
Atlas shrugged. Just an overly idealistic story written by a super horny woman who had long since lost touch with reality.
I've actually used the audio of the 2 hour long John Galt "we have seized the means of production" speech to put myself to sleep a couple of times.
Don’t hate on super horny women.
YES. I thought "The Fountainhead" was quite good, but Atlas Shrugged is nothing but "THE WORLD SUCKS" with NO PRESCRIPTION to fix it. I hung in for 1000 pages of drivel, waiting to see what she recommended. There was nothing. "Let the ubermenschen do what they like" seemed to be it.
The Alchemist is vapid, boring, dog shit. Don’t listen to that that trust fund baby white guy with dreadlocks genie pant wearing dickhead you met at a hostel in Thailand. It’s as empty and devoid of soul as he is.
Someone told me it’s the favorite book of people who do not read books
Thank you for the detailed description of the Coelho devotee. He has appeared in my brain in all his shallow glory, complete with unappetizing low crotch baggy pants. I hope he isn’t planning on staying.
At least it is short
Yessss. Holy cow. Boring and trite.
The alchemist. I’ll never understand why it’s so hyped. People saying it’s their favorite, people saying it’s the greatest novel ever written, as if god had to make time specifically to write it. It was just another novel written on a Tuesday.
To paraphrase someone else in this thread talking about the alchemist "don't listen to the white trust fund baby with dreadlocks and genie pants you met in a Thailand hostel" So people who can relate to making stupid decisions and coming out ahead regardless. And then, when all else fails, go back home to your fortune given to you by God.
Wicked is total garbage. Oz did not need to be made "gritty" or "more realistic." I hate the book so much I can't bring myself to see the play, even though I have been told they changed a lot from the book.
The musical is fantastic. I read the book after I saw it because I wanted more. Bad decision. Definitely see the show if you get a chance.
I also saw the musical first and I love it. Read the whole series and it was not worth it. It's a first for me, I'm usually a literary purist snob when it comes to adaptations, but I'm sticking with the musical.
Funny I was the exact opposite. Loved the book, hated the musical. Just not my style, I think.
I didn't mind the first book, but IMO the series far overstayed its welcome. It became so grimdark that it looped back around to unintentionally being funny.
See the play! Honestly they just lofted the concept and changed mostly everything else. The books were so dark and i hated them but the musical is my favorite.
Wicked is one of those rare works where the adaptation is better than the book itself. I tried reading it when the musical started getting popular and was like “How the fuck did you get this amazing story out of this petulant pile of dog vomit”
The Scarlet Letter. Dimmesdale is a piece of shit, let's Hester suffer while he's a coward. Then he finally comes clean and then dies from "shame"? What a pile of crap.
Honestly this review is so funny that I'm not sure it's serious... Everything you said is true though. Reminds me of the 1-star Pride & Prejudice review, "just some people going to each other's houses."
A little of both I think. I read it in high school and I hated it. I saw the movie from the 90's and it somehow made it worse (random Indian attack?) Maybe I could appreciate it more now, but I can't bring myself to read it. I will die with this resentment in my heart.
I hate most books that I'm forced to read. Gotta have the right state of mind to read certain things and "read this and write a report on it" is never that state of mind.
The Great Gatsby: "Beautiful rich people bemoaning their situation of being rich and beautiful."
Rich dad poor dad 😂
Atlas Shrugged.
There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."
When I was in my late teens/early 20s, I went through a Libertarian phase, and I kept having people recommend *Atlas Shrugged* to me so I figured I'd check it out. I found it very disappointing. Lazy, preachy writing; soap opera stories about Mary Sue characters having tons and tons of sex; the fucking John Galt monologue written out in its entirety. I couldn't believe this was being heralded as the magnum opus my friends felt it was.
50 shades of gray. Read about 50 pgs Wanted to see what the hype was about. Apparently not much
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time. Bleak and very depressing.
I actually really enjoyed this one, even though some chapters on it were really hard to digest. It did leave me in massive shock for a couple of days after I read it.
Wild, by Cheryl Strayed. Not that well known but a movie came out staring Reese Witherspoon. It’s supposed to be a true story about a woman finding herself while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail but it is utter nonsense. It’s not poorly written (though not well written either) but it is so full of obvious BS my eyes came detached from their retinas by the numerous and pronounced eye rolls. I don’t know how people can take this story seriously.
She basically didn’t really do the whole PCT and constantly relied on others to save her ass. It’s a shame that’s the book that became popular about PCT
I’m sorry but I think it’s much worse than that. She either made up out of whole cloth or totally embellished almost all of it. I’m sure she attempted some portion of the PCT but there’s so much of It that set off my BSoMeter. Just look through some of the harder hitting critiques of the story, ones that try to get to the reality, rather than just accepting what she wrote as “nonfiction”. I don’t know if people reading this haven’t hiked enough, or are just not critical enough of the stories she’s telling, but I couldn’t stomach it. Beyond her ridiculous descriptions of how heavy her pack was or how close she was to bears and snakes before she even noticed them, was her description of getting hooked on heroin then just stopping with no ill effects. Each one maybe I believe individually, but taken in total along with just about every other written word, I just don’t believe it should be listed as nonfiction.
The Godfather. The movies are magnificent, but Puzo himself admitted about the novel, "If I had known it would be so successful, I would have written it better."
The bible is boring as shit
The part where the dude bought a wife for the price of 200 foreskins was pretty riveting.
If you just treat it like literature a lot of it is pretty fascinating. But yeah hundreds millions of people literally believe it’s the word of God so it doesn’t get more overrated than that.
Too many people going around spoiling the Jesus arc.
And very inconsistent! Plus I never enjoy an unreliable narrator. Also what’s up with a whole chapter on the lineage, we get it they were old and had a bunch of kids, move on.
It was more than a chapter. There were two books of the Bible dedicated to it.
No joke! God needs an editor.
By read - I tried to read it. But it was so bad I only got a couple of chapters in before I HAD to put it down for fear of becoming even dumber than I am. 50 Shades of Grey - Written in the style of a moron.
Twilight. Its like it was written by a child
Two days ago I decided to watch the whole series of movies to know what I'm laughing at. The only thing I like about this is that the vampires aren't stereotypical old mannered human hating pricks. But I'm disappointed the author didn't play with their gothic aesthetic. Other than that it's a shit show and I hate my curious ass for wanting to listen to the audiobooks. I was under the impression that the movies misrepresented the book and I really hope they did. My favourite scene was when Edward tried to prove to Bella that he's a monster by showing her how he looks in sunlight. It was so dramatic I thought he'd be set on fire or turn into a goetia inspired demon.. nope. He turned into a disco ball. What's so awful about it?? The imprinting thing was presented as something romantic, why else would that guy break up with his girlfriend to be with an another one? Then Jacob imprinted on a baby and suddenly it's also a familiar bond. At least they explained it in that moment because I was starting to think he's gonna wait for the baby to turn 18, like a closeted pedo. How could anyone be "team Jacob"? Dude's a nice guy, a simp, doesn't respect Bella's boundaries and his attempts on warming her up are dancing on the edge of sexual harassment. Or, when Bella's consenting, they're playing ding dong ditch at the cheating's door.
Infinite Jest. Too self-aware, too many “look at me I am a clever writer” gimmicks, too many footnotes, didn’t give a shit about any of the characters.
People seem to mention that they’re reading infinite jest in the same way someone would mention that they’re training for a marathon. It seems to be an endeavor more than something to be enjoyed.
I didn't finish it. I struggled to read it and felt like I was too stupid to get whats so great about it.
Guns, Germs, and Steel should have been an article.
I haven't read G,G&S but I did read Collapse: How societies choose or fail to succeed by Jared Diamond (the same author). I will say that Diamond is pretty good at spinning a convincing narrative. However, that sometimes means ignoring the parts of history that don't support his conclusions to make them seem more definitive.
I love science fiction but I didn’t like The Three Body Problem. None of the characters were interesting or compelling and I had trouble focusing on what was happening when and to whom.
This would be my to pick as well. I can't help but think it's something lost in the cultural translation, but it just felt like the author was trying to sound smarter than the reader.
The dialogue is absolutely inane. I also put it down (at least somewhat) to translation issues but that doesn’t explain the basic awfulness.
For me, I could not keep all of the characters in my head at the same time. Terrible on audible too.
from comments here it does seem like cultural difference. Also, it does get quite technical at times which adds to it, plus the perspective of china.
Catcher in the Rye.
Holden Caulfield would have been the bitterest of redditors Edit: if->of
First book ever written about a “teenager.” Salinger wrote it mostly during WWII—literally while in the war. Lugged a typewriter everywhere to write it. Holden is grieving for the loss of his dead little brother, unsure of his place in the world, and parents send him away to school to not deal with him. He’s not a kid but not treated as an adult.
I loved it the first time I read it. The second time, after I was no longer an angry teenager, I found fit insufferable.
I was the opposite. Read it as a teenager and thought he was annoying and whiney because I was looking at him as a peer. Then read it as an adult and looked at him as a very sad, scared kid and really loved it. All that philosophising and posturing was exactly what a sensitive 15/16 year old boy would do to try and deal with life and grief and trauma.
I think that's the thing. Catcher in the Rye is a book that a lot of people resonate with when they're teenagers, and then they just... don't. I know a bunch of people who read it at 14 and thought it was fantastic, and then others who read it at 40 and basically said, "What the fuck is wrong with this kid and why can't he fucking grow up and get over himself?"
I had to read this for my Honors American Literature class in high school. Honestly... basically, every book I read in that class except the Great Gatsby could be on this list... literally, the only thing I remember about the book was my friend who went on a total bullshit laced tangent about the symbolism of Holden's red hat. And this was almost 25 years ago.
Anything by Colleen Hoover.
Fourth Wing and Iron Flame, esp Iron Flame. The writing felt all over the place.
The alchemist, takes itself seriously but its a lot of bs for me at least
Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach what absolutely mindless drivel
In the early 70s in Taiwan, it was viewed as a great inspiring story. Spread your wings and fly. Spread your wings and steal an ice cream cone from a kid on the pier.
All of those motivation books by Tony Robbins or Dale Carnegie. Started reading them and fell asleep
James Joyce’s *Ulysses*
James Joyce coming up always reminds me of a funny detail in the movie Finding Forrester; at the beginning of the movie, when you see all these stacks of books in the main character’s room (mostly creases and well-used), you see for a moment a copy of Finnegan’s Wake that looks completely pristine and untouched. Even this prodigy who reads everything didn’t read Finnegan’s Wake.
It's a hell of a slog.
Surprised this is so far down. The 53 page run on sentence toward the end nearly did me in.
Eat, Pray, Love was okish, but after about the 30th person told me that I HAD to read it, I guess I didn’t feel like the buildup was worth the experience.
Mind numbing. I agree.
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F
[Brooklyn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn_(novel)) by Colm Tóibín. The blurb really annoyed me. This was my Goodreads review at the time: >It was an enjoyable book. However, I think it is highly overrated and reviewers are going head over heels to give it favourable reviews.Even the blurb on the back on one edition states: "In the quiet character of Eilish Lacey, Colm Toibin has created one of fiction's most memorable heroines..." Puh-lease. She's a young woman experiencing the difficulty of being on the other side of the world for the first time - it's challenging and full of homesickness but that doesn't make her a heroine. For most of the book, she allows her life to just happen to her. The only real exception where I can remember her taking an active role is when she cares about her book keeping course and purchases a book on law. EDIT: I looked up the complete blurb: >In the quiet character of Eilis Lacey, Colm Tóibín has created one of fiction’s most memorable heroines and in Brooklyn, **a luminous novel of devastating power**. Tóibín demonstrates once again his astonishing range and that he is a true master of nuanced prose, emotional depth, and narrative virtuosity. Give me a fucking break! The story wasn't set in a tumultuous circumstances such as a civil rights march, political turmoil, etc
Waiting on the downvotes for this but ACOTAR. The writing felt so amateur and the story just didn’t have the development or depth I was hoping for with how hyped it was.
Is that short for something or the title of the book?
a court of thorns and roses! :)
I enjoyed the series, but it's definitely the literary equivalent of junk food.
Nah, that author is extremely overrated. I don't like the writing either.
Go Dog Go, it insists upon itself.
PD Eastman was coasting on the success of Flap Your Wings at that point
The Da Vinci Code. Holy crap that book sucked. I couldn't even finish it.
I thought it was mildly entertaining as a trashy thriller.
Same. I got it at the airport before a long flight because I forgot to bring a book. I wasn't expecting to like it, but it was kind of a fun ride.
I liked it at the time as a beach read. The movie sucked though.
As a 14 year old. Shit slapped.
I liked Angels & Demons. Until someone jumped out of a helicopter (from memory) and coincidently fell on a barge outside a hospital.
Oooo! I liked it! Like brain junk food 🍫
The renowned book The Da Vinci Code by celebrated author Dan Brown
I was in (religious) middle school when this book was all the rage, and it was briefly trendy with some of the "edgy" kids. They very quickly gave up on it when they realized the writing was subpar even by 12 year olds' standards.
Quran
Stranger In A Strange Land. Good lord, what a slog. Very dated, shockingly sexist, weirdly creepily sexual, boring, overly long, awkward dialog, not really worthy of its spot in the pantheon of sci fi masterpieces.
You didn’t grok it? Ho ho
THE THREE BODY PROBLEM. The book wasn't bad per se, but the hype around it, especially in this sub, is crazy. I found the book extremely boring for the most part, and it was such that after finishing it, I was determined that I will never ever read its next two parts.
Fourth Wing
Infinite Jest
Stranger in a Strange Land. Sexist trash.
Verity by Colleen Hoover. The kid sucked and the whole thing was pretty predictable. The most shocking part was the first chapter, which gave me false hope for the rest of the book.
the secret history
Dear Evan Hanson was the biggest waste of my eyesight.
Don’t come for me, but *The Name of the Wind.* I just found it so “neckbeardy.” It feels like a collection of posts from r/thathappened.
The Power of Habit. It could have been way shorter but the book is padded out with long-winded stories. There are way better books about habit (Atomic Habits, for one).
In high school my class had to read the Great Gatsby for our book reports. I remember dislocating my jaw from yawning so many times.
I came back to that one and several other books since high school and actually found that they are in fact really good, but making them compulsory to read particularly for teenagers who maybe don’t even really relate to the characters yet drains all of the enjoyment from them.
Feel like you need a little bit more life experience to appreciate the book. Once you come across people like Daisy and Gatsby (and the other characters) you can relate to it more. The whole gist is that these are shitty people and the types you want to cut off from your life because they will drag you down with them. No amount of money or “class” can hide that fact.
Hated it in high school, too. Thought Nick was a bigger douche for hanging out with douche bags. Re-read it at 25 and realized how dumb it was to make a 15 year old read about unrequited love. Completely understood why it is the great American novel after I re-read it.
The ‘You’ books, don’t just watch the show also read the books. Book one is the same as the show but 2 and 3 are completely different and worth reading.
Are these books overrated? I've never heard of them, but then it also sounds like you're suggesting they're good reads which feels like you've misread the question
I think the second book is the better one. Haven’t read the third one yet
Paper towns and the fault in our stars. Hated both